“It was a planned move,” Michael Shalit, partner in the two Boerne-area businesses and a nearby utility that's also part of the pending deal, said of the Chapter 11 filings in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in San Antonio.

Shalit declined to name the buyers or terms of the sale. But he predicted the sale would reinvigorate the struggling resort that was put on the market more than a year ago for $22 million.

The initial inability to attract buyers led to it being listed for foreclosure last month to satisfy an unpaid $15 million loan, but the auction slated for March 2 was canceled.

“We're very happy with the transaction and the new buyers are planning on making major improvements to the entire facility,” Shalit said Wednesday.

Shalit said he's part of the new ownership group, but his current partners, Jack Parker and his son Jay, are not.

Shalit said that besides the resort, which includes a 112-room hotel, conference center, 27-hole golf course and clubhouse, the deal includes the development firm, which owns more than 1,000 acres surrounding the resort, and the Kendall County Utility Co., which provides water service to the resort and about 300 upscale homes nearby.

“While a sale appears imminent, it's got to be approved by the bankruptcy court,” said the debtors' attorney, Bill Kingman. “It was a strategic filing in order to effectuate the sale of the assets and to protect the interests of the unpaid creditors.”

Resort assets are valued at between $1 million and $10 million, with liabilities between $10 million and $50 million, according to the filings, while the development firm's assets and liabilities both range between $10 million and $50 million.

Shalit, who predicted the deal could be closed late next week, said the actual combined liabilities of the two firms total less than $20 million.